Morpule is a 732 MW coal power station in Central, Botswana. It is operated by Botswana Power Corporation. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 916k homes (estimated). It ranks #2 of 12 Botswana power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1986, it is around 40 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 98.3% of Botswana's electricity; the national grid averages 851 gCO₂/kWh (0.3% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1023017.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 132 MW for Morupule A Power Station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: WRI GPPD; fuel: WRI GPPD
At 732 MW, Morpule is well above the median coal plant in Botswana (600 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. Coal plants burn pulverised coal to raise high-pressure steam for a turbine; they run as baseload but are the most carbon-intensive mainstream source and the first targeted for retirement or efficiency retrofits.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Botswana Power Corporation.
This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 22.5°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 83% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 19/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #2 largest coal power plant of 11 in Botswana by capacity.
Botswana has 11 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 8,111 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -22.5223, 27.0491 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Morpule is a 732 MW coal power plant in Central, Botswana, commissioned in 1986.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 916,045 homes (estimated).
Morpule is operated by Botswana Power Corporation.
